Sports
Soccer

France's Karim Benzema reacts after missing a goal opportunity against Nigeria during their World Cup Round of 16 game at Brasilia National Stadium in Brasilia, Brazil, June 30, 2014. (JORGE SILVA/Reuters)

France and Germany are two soccer powers, two potential World Cup winners and two teams that have shown potentially fatal flaws in this tournament.

Their response might be: Show us a quarterfinal team that hasn’t shown serious flaws in this tournament. And they wouldn’t be wrong. But the potential World Cup winner is going to have to find some way to overcome them.

On Friday, France and Germany will play a World Cup game for the first time since 1986. It will be Germany’s ninth consecutive quarterfinal appearance.

It will be a highly charged, highly anticipated matchup on a day when, four hours later, this nation will be riveted to another quarterfinal between Brazil and Colombia, the marquee matchup of the tournament so far.

Up until the French struggles in their Round of 16 match against Nigeria, France had been a marauding group of attackers led by Karim Benzema, who appears to have rounded into the form of his life.

But otherwise, France showed little against the African team. Benzema came alive only when manager Didier Deschamps inserted Antoine Griezmann into the lineup.

There has been a battle between players to see who would pair with Benzema. Griezmann probably earned that role.

France played through some weaker teams to get here, but did so with a strong attack, though it wasn’t evident against Nigeria until later in the game.

If France intends on beating Germany, they aren’t going to do it by being tactical or conservative. The French have to attack the German weakness — at the back.

It’s not a teensy problem, either. The German defence has major issues which proved especially appalling when Mats Hummels wasn’t able to play against Algeria.

The Algerians made Germany look slow at the back, not the first time they have been exposed there. Aside from their game against Portugal, Germany has had issues defending in front of Manuel Neuer.

France will be the underdog going in. Compared to the veteran German squad, the French have a young team with players such as Paul Pogba, Raphael Varane and Griezmann competing in their first World Cup.

Fans at home in France are happy with the way the World Cup has gone so far for their national team. They didn’t know what to expect and that feeling of being lost grew even more when Franck Ribery was scratched from the tournament.

This has gone much better for France than they could have hoped for.

In Germany meanwhile, supporters are a little anxious over what they believe has been an average performance after their teams thunderous opening game win over Portugal.

If there is pressure on Friday, it falls mostly on the Germans. How much that pressure will trouble, if at all, a German team stocked with veterans is debatable.

How much will experience matter?

In some cases it doesn’t because many young players have the kind of cocky attitude that overrides nerves. What a cocky attitude won’t override is having the experience to know what to do in certain situations.

Revamping the team has brought in more than just fresh, young legs. The young players come with a new attitude.

“We’re a very young team with new players,” said French player Mamadou Sakho. “We’ve instilled a new spirit into the team, off the pitch, first of all, and it reflects on the pitch.

France has only two starters older than 29.

Meanwhile, like France, there is a constant competition inside the German team between players who want to start rather than come off the bench. Forward Andre Schurrle started last game and scored Germany’s first goal in extra time against Algeria.

“I feel much better as a starter and everyone wants to be on the pitch at the kickoff,” he said. “I’d be delighted to have the chance to start on Friday. I’m really fired-up. I feel good, I feel in form and I’m really glad I finally got the chance to play more in the last match.”

The game can be deciphered until it’s been laid bare with nothing but the bones showing. What won’t be seen is the emotional level games of this sort are played at.

There is no love between the nations and certainly enough history on and off the pitch to ensure there will be nothing gentle about the proceedings.